Building Social Business

Introduction: social business-from dream to reality Why social business?-- Growing pains : lessons in adaptation and change from the story of-- Grameen danone-- Launching a social business-- To cure one child : a social business approach to health care-- Legal and financial frameworks for social business-- 'Social R&D' : Grameen veolia explores new ways to serve human needs-- Creating a social business infrastructure-- Glimpses of tomorrow : the future of social business-- Social business and the current crisis.--

Muhammad Yunus, the practical visionary who pioneered microcredit and won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, has developed a new dimension for capitalism which he calls 'social business.' By harnessing the energy of profit-making to the objective of fulfilling human needs, social business creates self-supporting, viable commercial enterprises that generate economic growth even as they produce goods and services that make the world a better place. Here, Yunus shows how social business has gone from being a theory to an inspiring practice, adopted by leading corporations, entrepreneurs, and social activists across Asia, South America, Europe and the US. He demonstrates how social business transforms lives; offers practical guidance for those who want to create social businesses of their own; explains how public and corporate policies must adapt to make room for the social business model; and shows why social business holds the potential to redeem the failed promise of free-market enterprise.--From publisher description.